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COVID-19 and Bladder Cancer FAQ

COVID-19 Vaccine | Experts Provide Guidance On Vaccination While Being Treated for Bladder Cancer

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted every corner of the globe. Two vaccines have been given FDA approval. Both vaccines have been shown to be safe and effective. We know the benefits of the COVID vaccination outweigh most risks. However, at the beginning of 2021, there is little data to document any unique risks from the vaccine to patients undergoing bladder cancer treatment. The situation for every person who has (or has had) bladder cancer is unique. The BCAN Scientific Advisory Board recommends that you discuss the risks and benefits of getting the COVID-19 vaccine with your bladder cancer medical team. They can advise you about if and when you should receive this important immunization.  Visit these resources to learn more:

COVID-19 (novel coronavirus) and Bladder Cancer: What patients and families need to know.

It is important that both patients and their caregivers take precautions to lower their risk of getting COVID-19. The Bladder Cancer Advocacy Network has received questions from our bladder cancer community about how to safely treat their disease while reducing their risks for the current pandemic. BCAN is deeply grateful to our expert medical advisors for their input in answering questions from patients and their families about bladder cancer and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Participants in putting together this document include the following experts:

Bladder Cancer & COVID-19 | FAQ Regional Updates for Patients

A bladder cancer diagnosis is stressful for patients and families on its own. That has been escalated with the current COVID-19 pandemic and social and medical distancing. How does where you live impact your access to treatment? What do bladder cancer patients and their families need to know about:

  • Do I need Covid-19 testing before treatment?
  • What constitutes an urgent need for care and what should patients/families know about what to expect at a hospital or doctor’s office?
  • After having a Covid-19 infection, how long to wait before treatment?
  • Medical distancing – how are protocols at hospitals changing to protect patients and staff?
  • How might things evolve as we learn more about COVID-19 in bladder cancer patients?

Wath the June 8 Covid-19 update now: https://youtu.be/uS5TFncoCpE. Read webinar transcript here.

Northeast Region – Recorded Wed. 4/8. Watch now: https://youtu.be/Bk0TMKOkC1g Read webinar transcript here.

Southeast Region – Recorded Thurs. 4/9. Watch now: https://youtu.be/blv7IVqUlVk Read webinar transcript here.

West Coast Region – Recorded Monday 4/13. Watch now: https://youtu.be/EqW22OvwcRE Read webinar transcript here.

Mid-Central Region – Recorded Tues. 4/14 Watch now: https://youtu.be/6nF0hcnbKr8 Read webinar transcript here.

Southwest Region- Recorded Tuesday 4/14. Watch now: https://youtu.be/R8lRF3csu_8 Read webinar transcript here.

BCG, Covid-19, and Bladder Cancer | Treatment Vaccine Update- Recorded 4/24. Watch now: https://youtu.be/8R6UQtejVuw Read the webinar transcript here. Download the printable version.

The Bladder Cancer and COVID-19 Regional Webinars are made possible by our generous Patient Insight Webinar sponsors: The EMD Serono /Pfizer partnership, FerGene, Merck, the Astellas/Seattle Genetics partnership, Bristol Meyer Squibb, and Genentech.

  • Does a bladder cancer diagnosis increase the risk of catching the COVID-19 virus?

    A diagnosis of bladder cancer does not increase your risk of acquiring the COVID-19 virus. However, there are several concerns that patients and their families should know about bladder cancer treatments and risk of acquiring or developing COVID-19.

    Because bladder cancer is a solid tumor, it does not directly impact your body’s immune cells as a function of the disease.  It is important to be aware that a bladder cancer diagnosis requires frequent visits to the doctor. Our experts are urging you to call your doctor’s office to speak with him or her before going into the office. Talk about your specific need for some of the typical bladder cancer appointments in the current pandemic situation. These visits to medical offices can put you and your families at risk for being infected. It also can expose healthcare professionals to unnecessary risk of acquiring the virus.

  • Does intravesical treatment with BCG for bladder cancer increase the risk of catching the COVID-19 virus?

    We have no reports that patients getting intravesical BCG are getting COVID-19 more than patients who do not.  Clinical trials are underway to assess the impact of BCG vaccination on risk of infection with COVID-19 virus.

    It is important to note that coming to a hospital to get this therapy could potentially put patients at risk for catching the COVID-19 infection. If a patient has had four doses of induction, it is possible to wait a few weeks before receiving the remaining doses of BCG. The risk of contracting the virus when coming to a healthcare facility for this treatment is higher than any risk of delaying dose five and six for several weeks.

    If a patient is getting induced and is still on dose number three, experts suggest that they try to get to dose four before they take a break from the remaining treatments. If they’re on maintenance therapy, then getting one and two and skipping dose three completely is acceptable. Speak to your doctor. It is likely that delaying BCG is much less risky than the risk of contracting COVID-19.

  • Do chemotherapy or immunotherapy for bladder cancer increase the risk of catching the COVID-19 virus?

    Chemotherapy may increase your risk. There are two ways to administer chemotherapy for bladder cancer. One is putting the chemotherapy inside the bladder, which is intravesical, and the other is intravenous (IV), which is getting systemic chemotherapy. Systemic chemotherapy has the potential to cause greater immunosuppression. Two different types of chemotherapy that are used, dose dense MVAC and GemCis. MVAC causes more neutropenia than the GemCis. Neutropenia is a condition associated with a low white blood cell count. These types of white blood cells, called neutrophils, are made in the bone marrow and fight off infections. But either of those could impair a patient’s system depending on what their baseline health status is, (i.e., age and other factors). So, having systemic chemotherapy puts patients at increased risk. Early data from other cancer centers show that patients who had any type of cancer and received chemotherapy who also got the COVID-19 infection had worse outcomes than those who did not have chemotherapy.

    Immunotherapy helps the immune system fight the cancer. However, one out of six patients who are on immunotherapy may have a treatment-related complication where there is an autoimmuneside effect.  An autoimmune disease is an illness that causes the immune system to produce antibodies that attack normal body tissues. Those patients may have to have high doses of steroids or immunosuppressive therapy. In that situation patients can clearly be at risk of catching a COVID-19 infection.

  • Are my risks increased if I had my bladder removed?

    Early mortality rates in patients from age sixty, to seventy, to eighty that have been reported from China and Italy, show deaths from COVID-19 increase significantly as we age due. Most bladder cancer patients will fall into these older age groups. Patients this age are already high risk. Their resilience to an infection like COVID-19 is going to be particularly compromised by recovering from this big surgery.

    If a patient is doing well, there’s no reason for them to come in to the clinic during the peak of this pandemic. Telemedicine can help doctors monitor the incision and stoma through the video visit.

    Experts agree that everyone needs to be very, very careful about choosing to have radical cystectomies now and for the next few weeks. The hospital readmission rate for radical cystectomy is 30%. This puts them in a vulnerable position. They should not be in the Emergency Room if they can avoid it. In cities with a large number of COVID-19 patients, there may not be a hospital bed for them to go to. There may be very few open beds in the ICU if they need them.

    In New York City, all cancer patients, unless they risk the loss of limb or organ function or obstruction as a result of their tumor, are having their surgeries delayed for at least two weeks. Many medical teams are not doing any cystectomies for at least another two, three, four weeks. Delaying a month in these difficult times of the pandemic, even delaying six weeks, is not likely to be detrimental to bladder cancer treatment. If you are waiting for a cystectomy, speak with your medical team about your options, including neoadjuvant chemotherapy or other options.

  • Are patients who have had a cystectomy at higher risk for catching COVID?

    After surgery, when a patient’s blood counts have recovered and their wounds have healed, and they are on regular follow-up every three months, they are at normal risk for exposure and catching infections from COVID-19.

  • Is there less risk of contracting COVID-19 for patients coming to a smaller community practice for bladder cancer treatments?

    There is not a big difference between community practice compared to the larger academic or urban practices for bladder cancer treatment. The risk is driven by where you are regionally within the country. The current COVID-19 epicenters are New York and Washington state, mainly Seattle, and potentially some other larger cities. That’s going to change over the next weeks. The forecast by the CDC and other organizations tracking the spread of the virus is that even in the Midwest and the South, it’s going to change significantly. Even though, for example, a county and hospital has only a few reported cases, they are treating this extremely seriously.

    Remember, social distancing helps to reduce your risk. Stay away from people who may not know they are even infected. Early research from China and other countries has suggested that people with a history of cancer may indeed be more vulnerable to infection and severe events related to COVID-19. Some doctors are also proposing “medical distancing” — reducing the number of cancer patients who visit health care facilities wherever possible — to decrease the risk of coronavirus exposure and transmission in this population.  If you are getting intravesical or other treatments and they can be delayed, especially as we try as a nation to flatten the exposure and incidence of new cases projection curve, you need to stay home, and not put yourself and the medical personnel who take care of you at risk. That’s the bigger overarching issue.

  • Can patients successfully continue to get their treatments during COVID-19 or can they safely delay some regularly scheduled treatments?

    We know that the checkpoint inhibitors have a long half-life in your body. Is there a way to reduce the risk so a patient doesn’t have to expose themselves to COVID-19 by the commute to the clinic or by being near other patients?

    In metastatic disease patients, the goal of immunotherapy is more palliative or managing the symptoms such as pain. Doctors may prioritize patients on therapy with curative intent while reducing visits for patients with metastatic disease. In the current clinical environment, it is appropriate to skip a dose of immunotherapy.

    Patients with high-risk NMIBC refractory to BCG may also be candidates for and FDA approved immunotherapy. The experience from the clinical trials show limited benefit such that risk of visit to the health care center and potential toxicity may be higher in the current environment. Talk to your physician if it is appropriate  to delay or skip a treatment.

    If the intent of their treatment is curative or immediate control of disease, then our choice would be different. As in the case of neoadjuvant chemotherapy, (chemotherapy before the planned removal of the bladder), the goal is a cure. Even though chemotherapy leads to immunosuppression, we would still recommend that a patient come to the clinic and get chemotherapy, despite COVID-19 being an easily transmitted disease. understanding the fact that this is an easily transmitted disease.

    Patients and caregivers need to take good universal precautions. This includes continuing isolation and social distancing, and making sure they are washing hands and washing their faces. We can potentially get them through this because the intent is a cure. If patients understand what the intent of therapy is, we hope they will understand if we delay or postpone their treatment.

  • How can telehealth help bladder cancer patients?

    The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services defines telehealth as the use of electronic information and telecommunications to support and promote long-distance clinical health care.

    Telehealth technologies include videoconferencing, store-and-forward imaging, and streaming media. For a health care encounter, a telemedicine visit requires live audio and video conferencing. Telemedicine allows bladder cancer patients to have conversations with their medical team and avoids exposing both patients and members of the health care team to COVID-19 positive patients.

    Screening patients by phone before they come to a clinic may help to eliminate potentially redundant routine follow-up visits and lower the risk of infection.

  • What if the patient is participating in a clinical trial?

    With COVID-19 reaching every corner of the health care field, clinical trials for the development of life-saving cancer drugs have seen an enormous impact and reduction in the number of active trials. The FDA has put out guidance and a code of conduct on clinical trials during the COVID-19 pandemic. Individual cancer centers are responding based on the local spread of the virus. If you are in a cancer treatment clinical trial, please call your clinical trial research team and follow their guidance.

  • How can I get a second opinion about my bladder cancer treatment options if I can’t go to another medical practice during this outbreak?

    Prior to the current pandemic crisis, BCAN encouraged patients to think about seeking a second opinion. It might be possible to get a second opinion from the comfort and virus-free safety of their own home. You should check with the cancer center you are trying to seek an opinion from, if they provide telehealth services to new patients.

  • What should I do if my diagnostics, treatments, or surveillance are delayed or cancelled?

    Delays and cancellations are likely in this environment given the risks described above in both visits and treatments. Patients and doctors should agree upon an appropriate time for following up.

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